How do you find your 'style'?

who_me · 14-02-2013 1:20am #1

How do you go about finding/creating your style of writing?

I've been turning a few stories over and over in my head for years, to the point where the characters are nearly friends of mine and I know the stories better than my own PIN. But I'm a very self-critical person and every time I try to start actually writing I can't finish a solitary paragraph without poring over it, picking holes in every choice of word. I usually get frustrated after about a page and dump what I've done.

How do you do it? Take it for granted the first thing you write will be rubbish, and just get into the habit of writing *something*; you can always go back and rewrite it as your skills improve? Or do a writing course? (If anyone knows a good one around Cork, I'd be very grateful!). Or... just accept that I have no talent and if I was a good writer I'd have finished a book by now?

I've finally reached the point where I know I'll never forgive myself if I don't at least write one book (whether anyone would publish it is another story).

Very grateful for any tips/ideas/experience.

Toasterspark · 14-02-2013 1:39am

Write.

Write, write, write, write.

If you were learning to draw, would you expect to be able to paint a landscape on the first try without a blemish or a mistake? Nope. It's the same with writing. The only thing you can do is to keep practising.

Ignore the little errors. Sometimes it plays out perfectly in your head, and then goes to crap when it's on the page. That's okay. Sometimes a piece of writing flows easily and you can write pages of quality stuff in one sitting. That's okay too. But the important thing is to keep writing. Write and learn from mistakes and do better next time. But you can't learn from your mistakes if you don't make any.

Don't fixate on having a 'style'. Write and practice and the best way for you to write will naturally happen. Don't force it, just do what works well.

There's the old phrase that 'everyone has a book in them' and it's true - it's just many people don't sit down and put pen to paper. By starting to write, you're taking the first step to having that novel somewhere down the track. Don't fixate on the novel either. Write some short stories. Write some poems. Write a handful of paragraphs on a subject you like. Enter the for-fun writing competition here in the Creative Writing Forum. Write, and get the words flowing. When you're comfortable with writing often, tackling a novel idea becomes much less daunting.

EileenG · 14-02-2013 2:42am

Just write the damn story. Don't worry about having a style or a voice, just concentrate on writing the story and putting it down on paper. Don't go back and fix anything. Tell yourself that you can do all that in the edits. Your job now is to get your characters into action and from the start of the story to the end of it.

The interesting thing is that when you focus on just writing the story, your natural voice and style will emerge.

Toasterspark · 14-02-2013 12:26pm

EileenG wrote: »

Just write the damn story.

If our forum had a tagline, this would be it!

donalh087 · 14-02-2013 2:23pm

I met a well known short story writer once and asked him this question (close enough anyway). I asked him "how long were you writing before you found your voice?". Without hesitating he said "a little over four years". So I will answer in chorus with the others - Keep Writing !

How do you find your 'style'?

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